Valaris rig booked for three-year job in Qatar

Offshore drilling contractor Valaris has been awarded a three-year contract with North Oil Company offshore Qatar.

The contract has been awarded to Valaris JU-110, a heavy-duty modern jack-up rig built in 2015.

Valaris said that the contract is anticipated to begin in the fourth quarter of 2021 but no details about the value of the contract were revealed.

According to Valaris’ fleet status report from May 2021, the Valaris JU-110 has been working for North Oil Company since September 2017 and this contract is set to expire in September 2021.

North Oil Company is the operator of the Al-Shaheen field, one of the largest and most complex of its kind in the world.

NOC has recently also awarded a three-year contract to Japan Drilling Co. for the provision of jack-up drilling rig Hakuryu-10 for operations at the Al-Shaheen field offshore Qatar.

The Al-Shaheen oil field is located in Qatari waters 80 kilometres north of Ras Laffan with offshore facilities consisting of 33 platforms, and more than 300 wells. The field started oil production back in 1994. It is Qatar’s largest offshore oil field and one of the largest offshore oil fields in the world.

When it comes to Valaris, this is the rig owner’s fourth contract this month. The first one was for a drillship to work with TotalEnergies offshore Ivory Coast, the second one was for a jack-up rig to work with Equinor in Norway, and the third one was also for a drillship to work with Chevron in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico.